Video device with electromagnetically reflective elements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12531968-B2
Application number	US-202218087479-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2022
Priority date	Feb 26, 2021
Publication date	Jan 20, 2026
Grant date	Jan 20, 2026

Abstract

An apparatus, such as a doorbell, may include a doorbell housing. The doorbell housing may include a front surface facing exterior of a premises and a rear surface facing interior of the premises. A camera, doorbell activator, motion sensor, and/or light source may be at least partially positioned within the doorbell housing. An antenna may be positioned within the doorbell housing. The antenna may be configured to send a wireless signal comprising data to a data receiving device inside the premises. A reflective member may be positioned within the doorbell housing and configured to reflect at least a portion of the wireless signal that is sent toward the front surface of the doorbell housing.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving, by a video doorbell, data; sending, by the video doorbell, in a first direction toward a front of the video doorbell, a wireless signal comprising at least a portion of the data; and reflecting, by a reflective member, at least a portion of the wireless signal in a second direction through a rear wall of a housing of the video doorbell, wherein the reflective member is disposed within the housing of the video doorbell and comprises a first portion disposed between an antenna of the video doorbell and a front surface of the housing of the video doorbell.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the data comprises one or more of video data or audio data.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting, by the video doorbell, motion, wherein the data is received based on the detected motion.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first direction comprises a direction away from an interior of a premises and the second direction is towards the interior of the premises.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending, in a third direction, the wireless signal comprising the at least the portion of the data; and reflecting, by a second portion of the video doorbell, at least another portion of the wireless signal in a fourth direction.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the wireless signal comprises sending the wireless signal to a data receiving device inside a premises.

7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the second portion of the video doorbell comprises one of a second reflective member, a trim plate, or a member comprising a reflective coating.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending, by the video doorbell, the wireless signal in the second direction.

9 . A method comprising:
receiving, by a doorbell comprising a housing, data; sending, by the doorbell and towards a front surface of the housing, a wireless signal comprising at least a portion of the data; and reflecting, by a first reflective member disposed in the housing and between an antenna of the doorbell and the front surface of the housing, at least a portion of the wireless signal through a rear wall of the housing.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the data comprises one or more of video data or audio data.

11 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising detecting, by the doorbell, motion.

12 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising receiving an indication that a doorbell activator has been activated.

13 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
sending, towards another portion of the housing, the wireless signal comprising the at least the portion of the data; and reflecting, by the another portion of the first reflective member, at least another portion of the wireless signal away from the another portion of the housing, wherein the another portion of the first reflective member is disposed between the antenna and a side wall of the housing.

14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein reflecting the at least the portion of the wireless signal through the rear wall of the housing comprises reflecting the at least the portion of the wireless signal towards an interior of a premises.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the first reflective member comprises a reflective coating.

16 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising sending, by the doorbell, the wireless signal in a direction away from the front surface of the housing.

17 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the doorbell comprises a video doorbell.

18 . A method comprising:
receiving, by a video doorbell comprising a doorbell housing, video data; sending, by the video doorbell and toward a front side of the doorbell housing, a wireless signal comprising at least a portion of the video data; and reflecting, by a U-shaped reflective member disposed within the doorbell housing of the video doorbell, at least a portion of the wireless signal sent toward the front side of the doorbell housing through a rear wall of the doorbell housing, wherein at least a portion of the U-shaped reflective member is disposed between an antenna of the video doorbell and the front side of the doorbell housing.

19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
sending, by the video doorbell and toward a second side of the doorbell housing, the wireless signal; and reflecting, by the U-shaped reflective member, at least another portion of the wireless signal sent toward the second side of the doorbell housing.

20 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
sending, by the video doorbell and toward a second side of the doorbell housing, the wireless signal; and reflecting, by a second reflective member, at least another portion of the wireless signal sent toward the second side of the doorbell housing.

Assignees

• Comcast Cable Comm Llc

Inventors

• Stefans Erik
• Rekstad Michael
• Homza Henry
• Thomas Abraham
• Jou Michael
• Egan Kenneth
• Urban David

Classifications

• G08B13/19626

  optical details, e.g. lenses, mirrors or multiple lenses · CPC title

• G08B13/19619

  Details of casing · CPC title

• G08B13/1966

  Wireless systems, other than telephone systems, used to communicate with a camera · CPC title

• H04N7/186 Primary

  Video door telephones · CPC title